Archdiocese of Baltimore set to ordain highest number of seminarians in 50 years

The Archdiocese of Baltimore expects to ordain its largest single-year class in more than 50 years as the number of men in priestly formation continues to rise.

The archdiocese said it will ordain 12 priests in 2027, one in January and 11 in June. Overall, the numbers have grown from 28 seminarians in 2007, 52 in 2020, and 66 this year. In 2026, 14 men, ranging in age from 17 to 36, entered formation from 14 different parishes.

“This has not been sudden,” Archbishop William E. Lori said. “It’s been building every year, and this is due to a lot of people praying before the Blessed Sacrament. It’s due to a good vocations team. It’s also due to pastors who are encouraging vocations in their parishes — and to parents who are generously open to the possibility that their son might have a priestly vocation.”

Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore in May 2026. | Credit: Photo courtesy of Archdiocese of Baltimore

Father Steven Roth, vocations director and associate vicar for clergy, told EWTN News that when Lori came to Baltimore, the archbishop was given staggering statistics on the declining number of clergy there, and “from the start, he was determined to reverse that…